Entire DA Fitzpatrick's news conference on Bernie Fine investigationOnondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick's news conference on the Bernie Fine investigation, in its entirety. NOTE: due to technical limitations of the camera that has a 20-minute buffer, there is a cut near the 20- and 40-minute marks where the camera had to stop and restart.

An audio tape Davis made of a phone conversation with Fine's wife helped corroborate Davis' sex abuse claims, Fitzpatrick said. He called the tape "devastating."

But for the passage of the statute of limitations, Fine would have been arrested and prosecuted -- at least on the misdemeanor charge of third-degree sexual abuse -- had Davis and Lang come forward earlier, the DA said.

Fitzpatrick said he would not pass judgment on whether Fine would have been convicted if tried.

"It's not my place to pronounce Bernie Fine guilty of anything," the DA said.

But he certainly would have been fired long ago if all the evidence coming forward now had come forward earlier, he said.

Fitzpatrick said Laurie Fine might also have faced prosecution on a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child had the information contained in the tape Davis made come forward earlier.

While Fitzpatrick criticized The Post-Standard for not revealing the existence of the tape after it was made at the suggestion of a newspaper reporter, he said the tape also would have fallen outside the statute of limitations and not been useful in any prosecution.

Fitzpatrick said Davis was deemed credible based on his past efforts to report the abuse, the consistency of his statements about that, physical evidence, the existence of a crime scene, witnesses and documentary evidence.

While Lang initially did not admit to being a victim when Davis first brought up his allegations, Lang also came across as a credible victim, the DA said.

The revelation of the taped phone call between Davis and Laurie Fall "left little doubt" about an "inappropriate relationship" between Davis and Bernie Fine and between Davis and Laurie Fine, Fitzpatrick said.

"The significance of that tape can't be overstated," Fitzpatrick said.

View full sizeDennis Nett/The Post-StandardOnondaga County district attorney William Fitzpatrick talks about the Bernie Fine case.

The people best qualified to determine Davis' credibility -- the prosecutors with years of experience with such cases -- were never informed of the allegations, Fitzpatrick said.

He questioned why the newspaper and ESPN -- which also had a copy of the tape -- never shared it with law enforcement officials capable of doing something about it. He said it appeared Davis did not have a copy of the tape in his possession when he reported his abuse allegations to SU in 2005.

The 4-month-investigation of Davis' allegations by the local law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King was clearly "inadequate," Fitzpatrick said.

That investigation included questioning of the Fines, coach Jim Boeheim, some other athletic department employees and Davis, Fitzpatrick said. The investigators overlooked "a number of red flags" in Bernie Fine's statement, never talked to corroborating witnesses and failed to bring the probe to the attention of the prosecutor's office, he noted.

Fitzpatrick said one of the athletic department employees remembers Davis talking about being molested. But that employee did not recall what he did with the information, the DA said.

Fitzpatrick said he would not make public the SU report because it was part of the grand jury investigation his office was conducting up until today. The DA's office will not have any further involvement in the case unless any new victims come forward with charges that can be prosecuted, he said.

Fitzpatrick offered an apology to Davis.

"I'm sorry it took so long," he said of the effort to get authorities to take the victim's allegations seriously. Fitzpatrick said he wishes he had met Davis as a prosecutor back when he first made his allegations in 2002 or when the abuse was taking place in the 1980s.

He also commended Lang for deciding to come forward after the passage of time.

"It's never too late to do the right thing," Fitzpatrick said.

While offering solid support for Davis and Lang, Fitzpatrick questioned allegations from two other alleged victims.

School records from the Copenhagen School District in northern New York and travel and hotel records from SU are being turned over to Fine's lawyers as "exculpatory material" in connection with abuse allegations made by Zach Tomaselli, Fitzpatrick said. That's material that would be helpful to the defense for which the prosecution has an obligation to reveal.

Tomaselli clains he was molested by Fine in a motel in Pittsburgh the night before he attended the SU-Pittsburgh game on Jan. 22, 2002.

Asked if the school attendance records show Tomaselli was in Copenhagen that day, Fitzpatrick only would say he wouldn't be turning them over to the defense if they supported Tomaselli's claims.

He then referred all other questions about Tomaselli to federal officials as they continue their investigation of the Fine matter.

But Fitzpatrick said he did not believe there was any evidence of any criminal wrongdoing by Fine that would be prosecutable by federal officials either unless some other victims come forward.

If there are any other victims, Fitzpatrick said he hoped the strength shown by Davis and Lang -- and the statement made in support of them today by the prosecutor's office -- would encourage any other victims to come to authorities.

Parents of any children who were known to associate with Fine should take the time to talk to their children to see if there are other victims unknown to authorities, he said.

Fitzpatrick said an alleged fourth victim is unworthy of belief. Without naming that person, the DA said he is a persistent felony offender serving a life sentence in state prison.

That person had written numerous letters over the years that completely belie his current claims of being abused by Fine, Fitzpatrick said.

"There simply is no victim number 4," he said.

Fitzpatrick said today Dennis DuVal, the police chief at the time Davis brought his allegations to police in 2002, was informed "in a general way" about the allegations. Police officials made the decision not to open an investigation unless Davis came in with more information, Fitzpatrick said.

While that might not be how such a complaint is now handled, Fitzpatrick commended the police department for announcing last week it was changing its policy for handling such phone-in complaints.

Fitzpatrick also said DuVal was informed "much later" of requests from The Post-Standard for information about any investigation. But the DA again maintained no one, including DuVal, ever brought the matter to his attention.

Clearly, in hindsight, more should have been done to investigate Davis' claims, Fitzpatrick admitted.

While he faulted the SU investigation of Davis' claims as inadequate, Fitzpatrick said there was no proof of any "institutional failure" on the part of SU. The university was relying on the work of its lawyers, he said.

And Chancellor Nancy Cantor has been fully cooperative with the investigation since the allegations resurfaced last month, he said.

Calls for the resignation of Cantor and Boeheim are unfair as are comparisons of the Fine matter to the Penn State sex abuse scandal, Fitzpatrick said.

In fact, Fitzpatrick suggested Boeheim was also Fine's victim.

As Fine's friend for 40 years, Boeheim apparently felt compelled to speak out in defense of his friend when the allegations resurfaced last month, Fitzpatrick said. Boeheim last week apologized for his insensitivity to the victims in his defense of Fine.

Fine not only physically abused Davis and Lang, he abused the trust Boeheim placed in him as a friend, the DA said.

Fitzpatrick said he believes the Syracuse community and the SU community will survive any fallout from the Fine case.

But when asked if he saw any means of healing the rift it caused between him and Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler, Fitzpatrick bluntly answered "no."

Two weeks ago, Fitzpatrick blasted Fowler and Deputy Chief Shawn Broton for their handling of the case and their refusal to share records with his office.

Fitzpatrick said he has not spoken to Fowler since the night the Fine story broke on ESPN Nov. 17 and the following day when the chief promised to keep the DA in the loop about what was happening.

Fitzpatrick today said he did not regret anything he said about Fowler and the police department administration in that Nov. 23 press conference. He admitted only to having regrets about having made his comments public.

But even after that, the rift widened, he said.

The city moved in court last week to quash a subpoena the prosecution was forced to get from state Supreme Court Justice James Murphy to force the police to turn over all past and current records of the Fine investigation, Fitzpatrick said.

The city's lawyer contended police officials had told the law department all such records had been provided to the prosecution, the DA said.

That, Fitzpatrick said, was "a total fabrication." Only after that meeting with Murphy did the police turn over all the records to the corporation counsel's office to be turned over to the DA's office, he said.

As he announced his office was finished with the probe of Davis' allegation, Fitzpatrick said there should be a law mandating any adult who becomes aware of the abuses of a child to report it to authorities

He also said the now 39-year-old Davis deserved an award for his persistence in trying to get someone to do something.

The DA said it appears Davis was motivated only by a desire to protect other potential child abuse victims.